Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Miracle on Voodoo Moutain by Megan Boudreaux ~ Book Review

"A Young Woman's Remarkable Story of Pushing Back the Darkness for the Children of Haiti"

Publisher's Description:

"It took months of God waking me up in the middle of the night before I realized I was the one He was calling to leave my comfortable American life and move to Haiti."

Miracle on Voodoo Mountain is the inspirational memoir of an accomplished and driven 24-year old who quit her job, sold everything, and moved to Haiti, by herself-all without a clear plan of action. Megan Boudreaux had visited Haiti on a few humanitarian trips but each trip multiplied the sense that someone needed to address the devastation-especially with the children, many of whom were kept as household slaves on the poverty-stricken and earthquake-devastated Caribbean island.

God guided her every step as she moved blindly to a foreign land without knowing the language, the people, or the future. From becoming the adoptive mother of former child slaves, to receiving the divine gift of the Haitian Creole language, to starting, building, and running a school for more than 500 children, "the amazingness of what God did after I made the choice to be obedient is incredible," said Megan.

Three years later, six acres on Bellevue Mountain in Gressier is the home of the nonprofit Respire Haiti at the former site of voodoo worship, and in the area that many still come to make animal sacrifices, Megan and her staff of nearly 200 are transforming this community as they educate, feed, and address the needs.

About the Author

Megan Boudreaux, at the age of 24, founded Respire Haiti, a non-profit to fight for the freedom of Haiti's estimated 300,000 child slaves. Megan followed God's call to begin a feeding program and transform a barren hillside into a refuge and a school for 500 children. A medical clinic is nearing completion with future plans for a church, community center, and library. Megan has adopted four Haitian children and in 2013 she married her best friend, Josh Anderson.

My Thoughts:
To say this memoir is inspirational is an understatement. To say that it was totally convicting to my own life and that it was perfect timing is not an exaggeration. I don't believe it was a co-incidence that this true story came across my radar. From the first paragraphs Megan's story grabbed my heart and didn't let up. The book is a very easy read and almost reads like a novel. From her dreams of a lone tamarind tree on a mountain in Haiti, to packing up her whole American life and moving to Haiti with no plan just a deep conviction that that is what God wanted her to do, to finding out the mountain that was in her dreams was actually a place of voodoo worship and sacrifice, to God opening her eyes to the horrendous situation of child slavery that so many children of Haiti live under, to confronting voodoo priests and sham orphanages, it was all a new experience for 24 year old Megan Boudreaux. Experiences that drove her to her knees to seek God's guidance and leading. And she takes you along on that crazy adventure of faith and obedience with her book.

That she went with no real plans and not knowing anyone there or the language boggles my mind. Everyone thought she was crazy, but she knew she had to be obedient to the call of God. What she has accomplished with the Lord guiding her in three short years is truly a miracle. Starting with a Saturday feeding program because she noticed so many of the children were literally starving she wondered why so many children were dressed in rags and hauling water instead of being in school. As she came to realize the ugly truth of Haiti's child slave culture she set out to bring change by helping to get some of these children to a school they could attend for free. It evolved into a two room school which they quickly outgrew. Establishing the non-profit organization Respire Haiti with literally no knowledge of how to do it or how to run it, Megan now has bought land on the mountain which in the past has been the biggest area where voodoo priests have performed their rituals and has built a school which currently has 500 students, a medical center, and a feeding program and a community center, library and church are in the works. Yet, when Megan has someone say to her "I could never do what you do", her response is "Don't we serve the same God? And doesn't He give us all the courage, strength, and boldness we need to do His work?"

For anyone, young and old alike, highly educated or not, this book serves as a great encouragement to exactly that, taking the step to be obedient to what God has showed each individual and then watching Him work the miracle.

Respire (which means to breathe in and out; to breathe easily again, as after a period of exertion or trouble) Haiti's mission statement is "to encourage, educate, and empower restaveks (child slaves), orpahns and vulnerable children."

Thanks to BookLook Bloggers for sending me a free copy of this book for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.

5 comments:

Oh I am SOOO looking for this one at our library!! It sounds MUCH better than the one I read called Kisses from Katie..that one bugged me because 1. she was from a wealthy family so it was EASY For her to just pack up and leave. and 2. it was too much (in my opinion) a "look at what I did" kind of memoir. I know her intentions were good in writing it but..this one sounds more "real" if you know what I mean. And my small group is helping with a fundraiser for Haitian children next week that the mother of a teacher I work with has begun. (her organization/ministry is called To Love a Child...check out their website at www.toloveachild.org). My small group is participating in their Paint and Sip event and all the money goes towards the children!! oops..sorry this is so long.

Wow. I love stories like this where obedience to God's leading moves mountains. We don't all have a calling like Megan, but this reminds me that we do need to be obedient even in the mundane, less dramatic calling. Wonderful review, Susanne. Thanks.

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We've all got a story to tell. Mine includes a wonderful husband, 3 adult children pursuing their dreams, a dayhome with 6 pre-schoolers, one dog, one cat and the grace of a loving God in the midst of it all.

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